WELCOME HOME HERMANA GATES!

I cannot tell you how happy I am to have Hermana Gates home! It seems like so many things are ending all at once for me and I think it is going to be really great. My sisters are finally coming home, which also means no more mission blogs, (YAY!), I am finishing up school, and it just feels good to have these things come to an end. Welcome home Hermana, we missed you so so much!

To see the cutest video Autumn Shipp put together of Macey coming into the airport click here.

the chunk & i

there is nothing better than a lazy day at home with this girl, we watched the women's broadcast and she was totally into it! It was so cute. 

Missionary Sisters

One of my little sisters has started using Facebook as a new missionary tool. She has been sharing gospel messages through Facebook and has also been able to keep in contact with people in areas that she has left. She has asked me to turn a few quotes into prints for her so she has something to share each week! I was happy to help and I thought I may as well share them!

This week's quote was "doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith" by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. This is one of my very favorite quotes. I am so grateful to have the gospel in my life and so grateful to have my two little sisters & sister-in-law sharing it with others, they are the best examples to me.

You can download an 8.5x11 here. Happy Sunday!!

and they're off

The morning of October 23rd, we got up about 5:15 in the morning and headed over to the airport. We said our goodbye's and then watched Macey board the plane. It was kind of nice that we just woke up and went it didn't give us much time to be sad! After we watched Macey's plane take off we got ready to go home. We walked out to the car and said our goodbye's to Mitzi. Mitzi and I hugged for a while then she pulled away and pointed her finger at me and said, "Don't you dare have a baby while I am gone!" Alex and I literally had to RUN to the car we were trying so hard not to laugh. We had found out two days before that we were expecting! I was grateful we had something to laugh about, we couldn't even be sad anymore! It was a rough day but Alex and I have been laughing about that every since. See you in 1.5!

elder holland

One day I was at working selling car washes as I do best, and look who drove right up for a wash! While he was waiting for the inside of his car to be cleaned we had a good little chat. We talked about him seeing Abbey the week before and how she had emailed about their talk. He also said "Hafen and Gates, those families combined make the most powerful combination!" I am still trying to figure out what he meant by that but it was so good to see him. Such a sweet guy!

twins + mission calls

     My sisters had both been talking about serving missions, but I guess it never really hit that they were actually going to go until their calls were here and they opened them up. I am so proud of them and their decision to serve, but I am one sad sister. Abbey is gone and now two more. They are going to be wonderful missionaries. The week before their calls arrived I had my little sister Sadie over almost everyday to help me with decorations. We wanted it to be a surprise for the twins and with the house being built I knew my mom had no time for any sort of decorating.
     This is what we made...

The purple guesses were Mitzi's and the turquoise guesses were Macey's then we had the person who was making the guess write their name on the flag. 

The calls!!

Mac LOVES Uncle Chad!

You guys. I was bawling before they even opened their calls. I am such a baby. I know they are going to be wonderful missionaries and I know they are doing the right thing. But saying goodbye to both of them for a year and a half is going to be the hardest thing for me. Mitzi opened her call first. She was called to Nashville, Tennessee. She reports October 23rd and will be speaking english. Then it was Macey's turn. Macey was called to the Riverside, California mission. She reports October 23rd to the Mexico City MTC and will be speaking Spanish. Their calls could not have been more perfect. I am so grateful they are leaving the same day (even though October 23rd is going to be the worst day of my life!) I am so grateful for them and for their willingness to serve. They are going to be the greatest missionaries. I love you guys!

primary ice cream party

To make sure our five (sometimes six) little eight year old girls behave themselves in primary we bribe them with a party. Oops. Every week they get one point for each person being there, and one point for each person that brings their scriptures to class. Then as the class goes on they get extra points if they are good, they pay attention, and they answer questions. If they are loud, and don't pay attention we "take away points." (We haven't ever actually taken away points but tell them we are going to ha! so mean!) Once they reach a hundred points they get a party of their choice. They chose to have an ice cream party. I made little ice cream cones for the invitation. They took wayyy to long, but I was pretty proud that I didn't even get that idea off pinterest! We ate lots of ice cream, played the game "spot it," and they played tag whatever else outside. I also set up a little photo booth and they got a little carried away ha. It was so fun & so good to have over with! 

a spontaneous trip to park city

     My mom had been telling us that we needed to get work off to come up north for my little brothers' baseball tournament and we honestly didn't think we could get it figured out. Alex and I ended up getting work off very last minute and we drove up to Park City with my dad and my sister Macey. 
     We arrived in Park City just in time to watch my brother Kaleb play until it poured on us. We were really sad it rained because instead of cancelling the game they just postponed it for a half hour and we were seriously hungry so that was a bummer. They finished the game and we went to Dickey's for dinner. YUM! 
     The next day we watched baseball, we slid down the alpine slides and we shopped! I loved being up there with my family and it was sure worth it to get work off! Saturday night we stayed at the Kimball. I sure love that place. One of the rooms had the biggest jacuzzi. We somehow talked all the boys into coming in for pedicures. Well kind of. We all just sat around the jacuzzi, talked, and soaked our feet. Then we all took the file to our feet, followed by giving & getting footrubs with burts bee's foot lotion. It was so relaxing! 
     Sunday we slept in. Yes please. Then we took a tour of the conference center, it was incredible. I need to go to a conference session ASAP. We walked around temple square for a while until we decided to go see the new(ish) Joseph Smith movie. It was so incredible, I cannot believe it took me so long to see it. I was bawling like a baby so I slipped my sunglasses on before they even turned the lights on ha. After the movie we headed home, what a fun trip that was. I love my family, and I love spending time with them. Thanks for the fun trip Gates crew!

Kaleb got to act as Joseph Smith on the tour ha, he obviously loved it. 

a weekend of FT (family time)

     Before Abbey left on her mission she really wanted to have a weekend full of family time. It started off with a family tennis tournament. Heidi and I were like realllyyy good. So we were terrible, what of it? We had a lot of extended family come too so it was just one big party. Eric ended up being the champion of the tennis tournament they Abbey & the boys were so into it, it was a crack up! 

    
 The next day was Sunday, also the day Abbey gave her farewell talk. Her talk was so good, she talked about her series of unfortunate events. Read about it here. I loved how she took such a negative experience and decided to look at it with a positive attitude. I love that Abbey girl. We had a lunch with friends and family and Hans and Lori's house afterword, and then we played cards and relaxed the rest of the day.

     Monday we did a session at the temple with all of the siblings and Hans and Lori. It was incredible to be in the temple with the whole family it was simply amazing. After the temple we had lunch at Sakura, and that, was an experience. We did the Hibachi dinner, it was so yummy and we had a really good time.

It's all about the sister pic, love this girl!

     After lunch we picked up the little boys, my sisters babysat them while we were at the temple and lunch, and we had a little family home evening. We had all written down things that we will miss and won't miss about Abbey when she is gone and she wrote something she will and won't miss about each of us. The things people came up with were seriously so funny. We love Sister Hafen and miss her lots! It was such a wonderful weekend, we are so blessed to have such a wonderful family. 

Action shots of us trying to catch the shrimp at Sakura. Obviously a very talented group we are. It was really bad lighting in Sakura so the pictures are terrible, but you get the point. Thanks for the fun weekend Abbey!